45+ Crafty Ideas for Home Decor You Can Make Yourself

Spruce up every room in your home with these creative and simple DIY projects.

More

view gallery

01of46

01Of46

01Of46

There's No Place Like Home Art

There's No Place Like Home Art

Reward a great quote (we cribbed from The Wizard of Oz) with the gallery treatment, courtesy of this project adapted from Meg Mateo Ilasco's Crafting a Meaningful Home ($24.95; STC Craft).

Step 1: Lay a piece of poster board on a flat surface. Use letter stencils ($7.69 for a set; staples.com) to spell out the phrase of your choice on the board, experimenting until you find a placement you like. (Use a ruler and pencil to mark horizontal lines for guidance.)

Step 2: Spell out the phrase backward, then flip the stencils over (you'll be turning the board over when you're done, and the words will then read correctly). Trace the letters onto the board with a pencil.

Step 3: Carefully cut out the letters with an X-Acto knife, then use hem tape to affix a patterned piece of fabric to the poster board. Flip the poster board over to reveal the finished artwork, then frame.

Vintage Painting Cabinet

Vintage Painting Cabinet

There's No Place Like Home Art

Reward a great quote (we cribbed from The Wizard of Oz) with the gallery treatment, courtesy of this project adapted from Meg Mateo Ilasco's Crafting a Meaningful Home ($24.95; STC Craft).

Step 1: Lay a piece of poster board on a flat surface. Use letter stencils ($7.69 for a set; staples.com) to spell out the phrase of your choice on the board, experimenting until you find a placement you like. (Use a ruler and pencil to mark horizontal lines for guidance.)

Step 2: Spell out the phrase backward, then flip the stencils over (you'll be turning the board over when you're done, and the words will then read correctly). Trace the letters onto the board with a pencil.

Step 3: Carefully cut out the letters with an X-Acto knife, then use hem tape to affix a patterned piece of fabric to the poster board. Flip the poster board over to reveal the finished artwork, then frame.

Vintage Painting Cabinet

Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

Repurpose the classic Mason jar as a soap or lotion dispenser in your bathroom.

Step 1: First, measure and mark the center of the jar's lid.

Step 2: Using a 1/2" high-speed steel drill bit (about $10; local hardware store), drill a hole to fit the width of a soap dispenser pump. We used pumps from old lotion bottles.

Step 3: Fill the jar with liquid soap, screw the lid back on, and insert the pump. You may need to trim the bottom of the pump to fit your jar.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

4Of46

Butterfly Cloches

Capture a Victorian cabinet-of-curiosities vibe—minus all the hunting and gathering—with faux butterflies. To create the vignette shown here, we applied a technique featured in the book Design*Sponge at Hometo a graceful glass dome. Using a serrated knife, cut a one-inch thick circle piece of Styrofoam into a five-inch circle. Next, cut a nine-inch circle from black velvet. Pull the fabric over the Styrofoam until taut and affix underneath with straight pins. Using our photo as a guide, cut pieces of 22-guage wire to various heights that fit within the dome. Place a dot of superglue on one wire end before sliding it into a butterfly's body; hold in place until dry. Repeat for each butterfly. Finally, insert the wires into the Styrofoam base, then top with the glass.

Seth Smoot

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

5Of46

Embroidered Wall Art

What truly elevates this idea from contributing editor Cathe Holden is the 3-D stitching that makes these graphics pop. (Just check out the close-up at right.) Create a masterpiece from your own sack, or nab a vintage one from eBay for about $10.

Step 1: Use a seam ripper to open the bag along the seams, so you're left with a flat piece of fabric. Hand-wash, and press with an iron.

Step 3: Center your bag on a blank canvas board—choose a board that allows for at least two inches of the bag's fabric to wrap around all sides (from $4.69 for 9"W x 12"H; cheapjoes.com). Apply Shurtape double-sided carpet tape to the board's side and back edges ($4.98; 1⅜"W x 42'L; lowes.com).

Step 4: Tightly wrap the bag around the board, pressing it firmly against the tape; then trim away any excess fabric along the back. Add picture-hanging hardware to the back of the board (if desired) and display.

Alison Gootee

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

6Of46

Vintage-Globe Light

We're positively glowing over this new use for an old globe, devised by contributing editor Andrea Greco. To create your own pendant, you'll need a 12-inch-diameter cardboard globe (as little as $15 on Etsy or eBay), plus a pendant light cord kit ($15; pbteen.com). First, remove your globe from its base, if necessary. With a utility knife, carefully make a 3½-inch-diameter opening at the bottom of your globe, using its latitude lines as a guide (convenient, right?). Then, holding the light cord's socket at the top of the globe, trace around it with a pencil, and cut out the resulting circle. Using a drill fitted with a ⅛ -inch bit, pierce small holes around the outline of each continent, leaving a quarter inch between holes. Insert the socket at the top, following the kit's instructions; then screw in a 15-watt CFL bulb from the bottom, and hang.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

7Of46

Papier-Mâché Bowls

Upcycle shredded paper into a set of gilded decorative bowls. First, choose a bowl (or multiple different-size bowls) to use as a mold. For each container you plan to create, follow these steps:

Step 1: Tightly cover the outside of your bowl with plastic wrap, securing it on the inside with painter's tape, and turn upside down. In another bowl, mix equal parts Elmer's white school glue and water. Dip shredded paper into the mixture, evenly coating each piece; then lay the strips atop the plastic-wrapped bowl so they overlap, until the bowl's exterior is completely covered. Let dry for three hours.

Step 2: Flip the bowl right side up and trim away any excess paper along the rim with scissors. Then, loosen and separate your paper bowl from the plastic-wrapped bowl.

Step 3: Paint the interior of your paper bowl with white acrylic paint and let it dry for one hour; then paint the exterior and let it dry for an hour.

Step 5: Apply neutral-toned Liberon Wax to the interior of the bowl with a soft cloth ($16.99 for 150 ml; caromalcolours.com). Allow the wax to set for an hour, then gently buff to a shine with a clean soft cloth. Finally, remove the tape and wax paper, and display a few treasures in your lustrous vessel.

Use a screwdriver to pop off the clock's backing and battery, then lift out the face. Gently remove the hands, nut, and washer with pliers. Set aside all parts, noting their order for reassembly. Trace the shape of the clock face onto your wallpaper or printed art, then cut out the circle. Center the paper atop the face, patterned side facing out, and secure with double-sided tape. Use a T-pin to poke a hole through the paper for the clock hands; reassemble all parts and hang.

Burcu Avsar

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

9Of46

Photo-Slide Night-Light

Designer Heather Wells of brightlights-littlecity.com turned us on to this brilliant idea for repurposing antique glass photo slides—readily available for $6 to $10 on eBay.

Just apply a thin layer of E6000 adhesive to the center of the slide's back bottom edge, then adhere it to the flat side of a mounting bracket for a standard night-light (adhesive, $7.99 for 3.7 oz.; amazon.com. Night-light base, $2.85; mounting bracket, 60 cents; nationalartcraft.com). Let dry overnight before clipping the mounting bracket onto the night-light base.

And if you'd rather make your own photograph into a night-light? Wells's new DIY kits, $30 at anotherdiamondday.etsy.com, include all the info and materials to construct one.

Studio D

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

10Of46

Embroidery-Hoop Photo Frames

Step 1: For each of your prints, select an embroidery hoop that's slightly larger than the photo: a seven-inch-diameter hoop for a 3x5; a nine-inch-diameter hoop for a 4x6 (for similar hoops, from $2.09 for 7" diam.; createforless.com).

Step 3: Center your photo atop the mounted fabric and secure in place with small pieces of Scotch tape along all four sides. Working 1/8 inch out from the photo, use a ruler and a water-soluble marker (Dritz marking pen, $4.99; joann.com) to draw a 1/2-inch-by-1/2-inch "L" shape around each corner.

Step 4: Using black satin thread, and working from the ends of each "L" to its corner, stitch from side to side, within the lines, to create a triangle. Take care not to sew through your photo.

Step 5: Remove the tape. If any pen marks are visible, wipe them away with a damp cotton swab. Trim any excess fabric at the back of the hoop. Repeat to make a wall's worth of memories.